Visual Emphasis
by rayemars
Summary: Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai: Zuko learns just what exactly his father has been comparing him to all these years. [Art of War 5]


Disclaimer: Avatar: the last Airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.  
——————

-

In the end, Azula decided against brainwashing Iroh not because she had weighed every advantage against every risk, but because she only had a small portion of time she could afford to devote to the question, and in that space of time she found only disadvantages. Less than an hour past sunset, she'd determined that even disregarding the problems of time, potential failure, the ease with which it could be turned against her, and the fact that she would have to trust earthbenders and Long Feng to keep their word, the idea would fail for the sake of symbolism.

If she managed to brainwash Iroh in a way where it was only mildly noticeable and could be written off as effects of his imprisonment, there was no way she would be able to be certain that it had worked and not that he was playing along; and if he was brainwashed in a way that made it obvious, he would be useless, and her father would only become more suspicious of her motivations.

And there was also the fact that she couldn't risk making such a move against a member of the royal family, not in Earth Kingdom territory, not when her victory was still hollow. Iroh was a minor threat until she was sure that she had won the city on every necessary level.

And she _would_ win the city. She would conquer in less than a week the Earth Kingdom's greatest symbol of defiance, with no forces but those of the enemy's who she'd subjugated, no allies but two non-firebenders, no advisors but herself, and the Fire Nation would remember it for **generations**.

They _would_ remember it the day she took the throne.

Once she decided on the best way to manipulate Zuko without permanently affecting Iroh, Azula began working out how to destroy all potential rebellion before it began tomorrow.  
-

She flipped through the file on the teenage mercenary who the Avatar had influenced without actually reading the descriptions--that could wait for later. At the moment she was only interested in how much and what type of information the Dai Li could collect.

When she was finished, she tapped her fingers on the scroll for several minutes before sending for Ty Lee and Long Feng.  
-

Ty Lee arrived first. "Yes, Azula?"

"How many Dai Li agents can you take down before they could get you?"

"Ummmmmmmm . . ." Ty Lee considered, pressing a finger to her lips. "Since they've got the flying gloves, two."

"Then take one." Azula folded her arms. "Commission an ostrich-horse and go back to Qin's camp. Tell him to send a squad to the nearest docked navy with news to start amassing troops, and to prepare a detainment boat. We've taken the city, but the news will leak out soon, and then the supply lines will be dropped and the surrounding Earth Kingdom garrisons will begin marching. We have to be installed here before then. Qin will march the rest of the army over tonight--he's to take whatever route necessary to avoid detection, but they will be in ranks in front of the main gate before sunrise tomorrow."

There was a knock at the door, but Azula ignored it. She stepped across the room, farther away, pulling Ty Lee with her. "I'll meet him then. We enter the city and march through the lower ring first, and hold ceremonies with the generals handing over possession in the middle and upper ones afterward. If he starts to protest about _anything_, remind him that his failure with the drill is still fresh in my memory, and that it won't be hard for someone else to take over the work on the flying balloons."

"Didn't you kill all the generals?"

"There will be a few promotions," Azula replied. "The refugees won't recognize the faces; they'll just know the uniform."

"Okay," Ty Lee agreed. "Anything else?"

"After you've given him the news, come back with proper clothes for us." Azula paused. "And Zuzu, too."

"What about your uncle?"

"He stays in green." She tilted her head at the door. "Go!"

"On it," Ty Lee replied with that one grin that she _knew_ irritated her, and opened for the door.

"Who are the highest ranked officials familiar to the refugees that are still in the city?" Azula asked as soon as Ty Lee walked out, before Long Feng could even enter.

Long Feng gave her a faint, guarded smile as he reflected. As he closed the door behind him, she heard Ty Lee tell the agent who'd brought him to get ready to leave with her.

"Lieutenant Generals Sheng Li and Yi are the two whose names would be the most familiar. The others would be--"

"The others will be arrested, along with the major generals and colonels. How many Earth Kingdom uniforms can you gather immediately?" she interrupted.

Long Feng paused briefly before replying to that, and Azula could tell from the way his eyes widened slightly that he was catching on.

He was intelligent. She would grant him that.

"About seventy," he replied, "or more, if you don't mind them being half-tattered."

"That won't do," she said shortly. "How many people do you have these files on?"

"Everyone," Long Feng replied mildly.

Azula looked at him. "Everyone?" So the files weren't solely for the brainwashed, or he had been lying about the number of people before. "Including every refugee in the lower ring?"

Long Feng paused again, but this time he slid his hands into his sleeves as well. Azula narrowed her eyes.

"If they entered the city, their names and a physical description--at the least--are in the records," he answered.

"Activate all of the brainwashed and move them to the lower ring if they aren't there already," she ordered, moving around the table to give herself more room. "Separate the earthbenders and put them into uniforms before dispersing them along the outermost wall."

"What should be done with the soldiers already there?"

"I'll handle that issue when I speak with the lieutenant generals." Azula tapped her fingers on the table, and continued to watch his face, treating his hands as an impotent threat.

"Very well," Long Feng replied with a small bow. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Azula tapped a finger one last time against the table, and then picked up the scroll. "If you have records on everyone, I assume you know who the community leaders are for all the various areas?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Have them all removed and killed tonight."

"I don't recommend that."

Azula dragged her thumb down the paper roughly. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"All the same," Long Feng replied. "I'm sure these are effective tactics for the Fire Nation, but it won't work for the Earth Kingdom. Fire doesn't melt stone; it only changes it slightly."

Azula tossed the scroll back onto the table, flame coming to her hand as soon as the paper was out of range. Long Feng shifted his stance, but kept his hands tucked into his sleeves.

She remained still, feeling the fire's warmth curling over her palm, waiting.

Either he had managed to convert a few Dai Li agents back to his side--which was possible, because she had been too busy to keep him under complete watch, and there were _always_ dissidents and weaknesses within a group--and he was waiting for an opportunity; or he had converted no one and he was bluffing her.

Azula drew her hand back, just fractionally, and Long Feng took a step back rather than pulling his hands free.

He was bluffing. If he'd had a way to back up his words, he wouldn't have been worried about preventing damage to his hands.

"And what," she asked, voice low and sweet, "would you suggest?"

His voice was almost steady as he answered, and he gained control of it soon. "Take the leaders tonight, along with others, until there's enough people gone that everyone will know someone who's missing. Then relocate them throughout the area. The most dangerous can be sealed off in one block, and if the people know that their family members or friends are still alive somewhere, they'll be more inclined to persevere rather than revolt."

"And order will be preserved," she finished sardonically.

"Yes," he replied.

"And you're willing to stake your life on this ploy working?" she continued idly, shifting her hand slightly.

Long Feng bowed low enough that she could only hear the potential smirk in his voice, rather than see it. "I would expect nothing less," he answered.

She needed to keep him alive until the city was secured. He was still a figure of importance to the Dai Li, the one with the most knowledge, and well-known enough to force through much of what she needed done.

He could be killed after control was settled and she'd handed the city to someone else. It wouldn't be long.

Azula exhaled soundlessly.

"Very well then," she said, twisting he wrist and releasing the flame. "Inform the Dai Li that I'll be speaking with them in the throne room in five minutes, and then go arrange the uniforms."

"Immediately, Princess Azula," Long Feng replied, bowing again and stepping back towards the door.

As she watched him leave, she realized a way to simplify the work.

"Also," she added, and he turned around, hand on the door's handle. "Later tonight, I want the wealthiest members of the middle and upper rings here."

He nodded. "I'll send the orders as soon as the uniforms are arranged."

"No," Azula replied, "I want them sent for after the Dai Li are finished with the relocations. That will have more impact."

". . . Understood," Long Feng replied, hand still resting on the door. Azula turned to the side, keeping him in her peripheral vision while wordlessly dismissing him.  
-

After he was gone, Azula checked her appearance in the tall mirror, and made a note to take Ty Lee's makeup later. She had no time now--she had to be the first one to arrive.  
-

As she made her way down the halls, Azula expanded on what Long Feng had told her--logically, if one part of the city could be sealed off to contain the most rebellious, multiple sections could be sealed.

Not _many_--earthbenders were limited by the supply of material they had, so the lower ring could probably only be sectioned into four or five parts before creating the risk of the ground collapsing in on itself. And that much would only be possible if the walls were only mid-high and the middle and upper rings were left alone.

Azula would have labeled the fact that she had already assigned agents to guard the latter two rings as "lucky," if she'd believed in it. As it was, she considered it to be good planning coming to fruition--she had posted agents there yesterday to make sure the officials who'd returned to their homes with their lives kept quiet about the change of government. Any household that had displayed suspicious behavior had been given orders to be swiftly silenced, before its neighbors could notice.

It meant she could afford to skip sealing those two rings beyond their gates tonight. After she'd met with the wealthy, there would be enough time before the Fire Nation army entered the city the next morning for them to exert pressure on their communities to behave rather than risk death or a loss of assets.

The more she thought about it, the more Azula could see ways to use the nature of the city against itself, with a minimum of decisive violence and pomp. Ba Sing Se had prided itself on its outer walls for so long that not only had it created an easily manipulated conspiracy of silence, it had also failed to plan for fortifications against enemies within the gates.  
-

"I want all of you to go through the files and determine the community leaders for the entirety of the lower ring," Azula ordered, striding across the front of the dais. "Be finished within a few hours, and when the majority of the population is home and sleeping, remove all of them. Round up a random group of individuals as well--split up families, take popular shopkeepers and women. The most talented earthbenders will be jailed, while the insurgents and the lesser talented ones will be sealed in a small section of the lower ring, with a guard on the walls. The rest will be relocated throughout the city. I want four additional walls raised to section off the ring, so make sure no one is placed in a section they originally came from."

When she paused and turned to face them, the agents were silent for a moment before one in the second row, to the left, spoke up. He had addressed her twice before, once in a different meeting and once over Iroh; and she'd learned that he had been the one to think of the leather gag. His name was Qiang.

"Raising five walls will compromise the ground structure, Princess Azula," he said.

"Then make them mid-high, and keep teams on them to maintain them," she replied coolly. "You _are_ the elite of the earthbenders in this city, correct?"

"Understood," he replied, bowing his head.

Azula reflected, and then covered her pause by shifting her position, so that it would appear like she had already thought of the idea. "You should point that fact out to any earthbenders as well," she continued. "They'll be less inclined to fight if they believe they'll sweep their entire area into sinkholes."

"Understood," Qiang repeated.

When no one else spoke, he paused briefly before raising his head again. Azula noted that spokesman duties were being tacitly given over to him.

"We will have a much more difficult time sealing off the inner and middle ring," he began carefully, "if five walls have been constructed in the outer one. We can use less earth from those areas due to the caverns of Old Ba Sing Se."

"I don't need those rings sectioned," she replied, folding her hands behind her back. "In the upper and middle rings, leave the community leaders and the wealthy alone. Take older children or other family members instead, and move them to the bottom ring with the others. Then seal the gates between them."

When Qiang and many of the other agents nodded again, Azula let her hands slide back to her sides.

"Set a patrol on each wall, and station one agent on each area where the gates are sealed. Several of the--_re-educated_," she said, drawling out Long Feng's word, "who are earthbenders will join you along the gates and walls, to add to your manpower."

A few of the Dai Li shifted at that, but none of them spoke. Azula eyed them before striding across the dais again.

"You _will_ have all this completed before sunrise," she continued. "Refrain from any acts of violence that are not highly public and necessary. Don't bother trying to house any of the relocated, especially those of the higher rings; just leave them in the streets. You five," she said, gesturing to Qiang and the four agents closest to him, "stay here. The rest of you, go."

As the other agents left, heading for the records room, Qiang and the other four moved closer to the dais. "Yes, Princess Azula?"

"I want you to get Long Feng, and then bring Lieutenant Generals Yi and Sheng Li to me," she replied, before pointing to the man on the far left. "You, tell my companions to come here."

The five bowed to her and left, splitting into two groups at the door.  
-

Mai had apparently realized after Ty Lee hadn't returned that this was the night Azula began everything in earnest, because she was fully dressed in the Kiyoshi armor save for the makeup. Zuko was still fastening his cheongsam when he entered; from the flush on his face and the sweat still beaded around his hairline, Azula guessed that the agent had interrupted him while training.

Azula adjusted the Dai Li uniform that she was still wearing, and grilled the agent for information on Sheng Li and Yi until she heard the others arriving.  
-

Azula was standing in front of the throne, hands clasped behind her back, with Zuko on her right and Mai on her left, when the Dai Li swung open the doors and forced two men into the room. Their hands and feet had been tautly shackled to prevent proper stances, and they had been stripped of their armor and outer clothes.

"Earth King, why--!" one of them began, before finally seeing her and not who he'd expected. "Who are you?"

"I am Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and princess of the Fire Nation," she replied with a small smile. "This is Prince Zuko and Lady Mai, also of the Fire Nation."

He stared. Behind him, the other man's jaw was slack.

Azula gave them a moment.

". . . What is the meaning of this?" the man growled, staring at her for a few more seconds before turning his glare on Long Feng.

"The Fire Nation Princess and Prince infiltrated the city with several spies, Lieutenant General Sheng Li," Long Feng replied, face blank. "The Earth King was overthrown on the same day as the Council of Five."

"What have you _done?_" Sheng Li hissed.

Long Feng faced him impassively. "It is the responsibility of the Dai Li to maintain the order of Ba Sing Se. We have done our duty."

"Traitor!" Despite the shackles, Sheng Li tried to shift his feet into an earthbending stance, aiming at Long Feng.

The Dai Li agent closest to him punched Sheng Li in the back of the knee with his earthen glove, sending the man to the ground. He managed to catch his balance before falling completely, and landed on his knees with one leg twisted out as much as the shackles allowed.

As the agent pulled the glove back to him, Long Feng took a few steps to the side and nodded to Azula--a gesture that could be interpreted either as acknowledging her authority or permitting her to speak.

The swiftness of the agent's reaction was a small thing, but not something she could afford to ignore. Azula made a note of it to balance it against her reasons for executing Long Feng later, and stared down at Sheng Li.

"According to the Dai Li, you two are the most famous of the remaining ranked Earth Kingdom soldiers among the refugees," she stated. "You've just been promoted to general, to replace the others."

Yi was still watching her, but Sheng Li's eyes narrowed.

"What have you done to General Hao and the others?"

Azula ran the side of her thumb over one her nails idly. "Their war crimes against the Fire Nation couldn't be allowed to go unpunished. Your barbaric practices have only gotten worse over the years."

Yi started to frown in confusion, but Sheng Li's shoulders stiffened. "General Hao abolished the practice of stoning in all the troops serving under him."

"And yet the corpses kept being found," she replied dryly. "He should have paid more attention to his colleagues' practices as well." She shifted, tilting her chin up slightly while still staring down at him. He hadn't yet moved to stand; two of the Dai Li agents were keeping an eye on the ground around his feet. "The Fire Nation army is outside the gates--you'll be greeting them with me tomorrow morning before we enter the city. You'll also both be a part of the ceremony of handing over the city in the middle and upper rings tomorrow."

"I will die before I betray the Earth Kingdom," Sheng Li said harshly.

Azula smiled.

"No, you won't," she replied. "If you choose not to come to the Fire Nation camp with me, I'll take your wife along instead." Azula tilted her head slightly to the left. "Since your eldest son is stationed at an outside garrison, it will take longer to retrieve him; but both of your daughters are old enough that we can set them on our front lines. I'm sure you know how _that_ goes."

Zuko's hand twitched slightly at that. Azula noticed it from the corner of her eye, but didn't draw attention to him by looking over. Instead, she straightened her head again and adopted a mock regretful tone. "I'm afraid your second son is too young to have any purpose, though, so him I'll just kill."

Sheng Li had paled considerably by that point.

". . . You would only kill me afterward, anyway," he managed to say a few moments later, though his voice had far less force behind it this time.

"How noble of you to spare them the difficulty of living on without you," she commented.

He clenched his jaw. A few moments after that, he must have balled his hands into fists, because the Dai Li moved closer--but instead of attacking, Sheng Li bent his head.

Azula looked over at Yi.

The man didn't even speak; instead, he crouched until he was able to kneel with relative grace, looking at the stone floor rather than her.

He was the dangerous one, she decided--but also the one who would be more useful. She'd have to put him in with the rest of the commanders later, and possibly arrange it so that he would be able to speak to a few of the refugees when he thought she didn't know.

"Put them in one of the cells until they're needed," she ordered, addressing the Dai Li again, "and arrange for them to have generals' armor. Then I want you to go through the city and begin activating all of the brainwashed. Bring the earthbenders back here and send the others to the lower ring."

"Understood," Qiang said for the five, and then pulled Yi back onto his feet. Another agent followed suite with Sheng Li.

Both of the men looked confused at the term 'brainwashing;' the fake soldiers would have even more impact that she'd expected.

Azula gestured to Long Feng as they were leaving. "The orders?"

"Several have already been written," he replied. "By the time the outer ring is sectioned, they'll be waiting to be sent. The uniforms are being brought in from the soldiers' quarters along the outer wall, so it will take about an hour to do it without being noticed."

"Good," Azula replied. "Does the Dai Li have authority over the soldiers stationed in the city?"

"Not officially."

Azula blinked once, slowly and deliberately, at him. "How far down the ranks is the authority known, then?"

"Through all the commissioned offices," Long Feng replied. "Majors about to receive commissions may already know."

"Have those two write orders down to the lieutenant colonels underneath them. They're to begin bringing the city's troops into the middle and upper rings immediately, on the Dai Li's command. Once the soldiers are in, have them stationed away from the people who'll be coming up here tonight. Don't let them through the gates afterward."

"That will be difficult to accomplish--the noise of the walls being raised can't be concealed."

Now that she knew he had no one on his side, Azula could understand what the man was attempting to do, and could think less of him for trying.

A stone pillar might collapse if it was chipped at enough, but if a fire wasn't doused completely, the embers could always be stirred back into flames.

"If the Earth Kingdom's soldiers have discipline," she replied with a half smile, "they'll know how to follow orders. And if they **don't,** I'm even less concerned, because _we_ do.

"Go."  
-

After he left, Azula turned around. Mai's bottom lip was slightly puckered at the corner, as if she'd been biting the inside; but her face settled back to its usual expression a moment later. Zuko's hands were still tense.

"I knew that second guy would cave faster," Mai said after a moment, because Azula was staring at the throne in front of her, Zuko was still silent to the right, and there was no Ty Lee.

"Of course," Azula replied. "He was smarter."

Mai raised an eyebrow halfway. Zuko looked over.

Azula stepped forward and ran a hand over the left post of the throne. "We've taken the capital of the Earth Kingdom--a city that prides itself on its stone walls, and whose routes and supply lines have been protected by earthbenders for the last century," she said, feeling the smoothness of the rock beneath her hand. "He assumes that the troops stationed outside will be able to bring the walls down and reclaim it, so he's going to wait."

Mai was silent for a few moments, and finally made a 'huh' noise. Zuko glanced out at the room again, as if taking in for the first time just how much earth they were surrounded by.

Azula clenched her hand around the post, feeling the smoothness of ages in the stone, and then let go.

"He's more useful that way," she said with a smirk, turning back around. "He'll hold onto that hope until it breaks him, and spread it to plenty others before then."

"Tomorrow begins early," Azula continued, heading for the steps of the dais. "Sleep while you still can. Gaining Ba Sing Se will be nothing compared to keeping it."

She didn't glance at Zuko as she strode down the steps. Behind her, there was a pause; and finally the silken rustle of Mai's clothes as she began to leave as well. Zuko followed her.

Zuko's steps were measured and solid on the stone, and Azula pursed her lips slightly only because there was no one before her to see it.

—

It was after midnight when the sectioning was finished, and the summons to the middle and upper rings were sent out. Azula napped and used Ty Lee's makeup to hide the circles beneath her eyes.  
-

She could hear the murmuring before the great hall leading to the throne room was even visible. Mai was slouched near the corner that turned into it, smothering a yawn with her hand. Zuko had been staring down at the city from the small pavilion attached to their rooms' corridor when Azula had called for him to come along; she had glanced out as she passed by, and saw that the lower ring was lit up the most along the new walls. The middle and upper rings were still as dark as was appropriate to the hour, with the exception of lights where, presumably, the heads of the households were now gathered here.

"They're wandering around like sheep," Mai said, when she and Zuko were close enough to hear. "Even the dumbest parties back home weren't this bad."

She wasn't entirely exaggerating. The utter confusion of the summons seemed to have warred with ingrained habits of propriety--men in their house slippers were wearing elegant cheongsams sloppily tied, and the women had forgone makeup but were struggling to arrange their hair. All of them looked exactly the way Azula wanted--unbalanced, confused.

She strode out into the hall, clothes and hair and demeanor perfect, and the crowd parted around her simply out of recognition of someone who knew what was going on. The murmuring slowed, but didn't quite stop.

When one of the two Dai Li agents opened the doors to the throne room, and Azula stepped through them and towards the dais without pause, _then_ there was quiet.  
-

Things went about the same as they had with the lieutenant generals, except that when the man who'd been loudly denying that she could be who she was and that she had done what she did moved into an earthbending stance, the second Dai Li agent punched him in the temple instead of the knee.

The man hit the ground heavily, blood trickling from where the stone had broken his skin, and didn't move. The others had already shifted away from him, but now they practically scattered.

Azula gestured to the second agent, who'd started to move, telling him to leave the man there. Then she continued speaking.

"There's no reason for your homes to descend to the same level as the lower ring," she said pleasantly, before glancing down at the unconscious man. "Unless you _want_ them to. . . ."

No one spoke. No one was even looking at her anymore, or at the man, or even at the agents. Azula allowed the corner of her mouth to lift slightly before going on.

She did notice the one man near the back corner of the room, who kept glancing at Zuko rather than her--but now was not the time to deal with him.

"You have a lot to lose by fighting," Azula continued. "Without your wealth, you'll be sent to the lower ring, where the lifestyles are _quite_ different."

The man in the corner glanced up again. Zuko didn't seem to have noticed him yet.

She went on. "You are all here because you are the leaders of your communities. If you'd like the city to continue running smoothly in your levels, and for your lives to remain the same, then simply go home tonight," Azula stated. "And tomorrow, when we finish stationing our troops, use your influence to keep your neighbors quiet."

She swept her gaze across the small crowd, and noticed that the man was looking down again. "Those who comply may continue their lives in much the same manner as before. Those who don't will have their wealth and property confiscated and be forcibly moved. If you fall into the latter category, speak up now so we don't have to waste time returning you to your homes."

The people remained quiet. A few of them glanced at the man sprawled on the floor.

Azula waited for a full minute, and then nodded to the Dai Li.

"Qiang," she said, as they began herding the crowd out of the room. The man started very faintly--it was the first time Azula had indicated that she knew his name--but turned to face her.

"Hold him here," she stated, pointing to the man who'd been glancing at Zuko, who was currently trying to exit as quickly as he could without standing out.

Several of the people leaving glanced at him as Qiang began ushering him forward, and he stared back at them desperately; but no one spoke up. Zuko blinked and then frowned at him.

"Be sure that everyone is separated while they're taken back, even if you have to get a few more agents to do it," Azula added to Qiang, who nodded in agreement; and then she finally looked down at the man. "Who are you?"

He had to swallow twice before his voice came out audibly. "Chuo of the Ouyang clan."

Her voice was warm and soft as caramelizing sugar as she continued, "And do they not teach how to respect your superiors in your clan?"

"No, I . . . Princess, it--. . . ."

"I remember you," Zuko said, and the man flinched.

Both she and Mai looked at him. When Zuko glanced over at them, she raised an eyebrow.

"He's the one who arranged the tea shop for Iroh and me," Zuko replied, voice fading back into that taut restraint, "in the inner ring."

Really.

"_Really_," Azula replied, turning back to face the man with a smile and sliding into the information easily. "_You're_ the one who enabled our spies to get closer to the palace?"

Chuo blanched.

"I see," she replied, still smiling. "You've been very useful to the Fire Nation, then. And I'm sure you'll continue to be a model citizen, won't you?"

"Yes," he said, very quietly.

"That's all," Azula stated, gesturing to Qiang. She glanced at Zuko again from the corner of her eye, but he only watched the man go.

Qiang picked up the unconscious man as he left; Chuo kept glancing over at him and then trying to focus on the ground in front of him again.  
-

"What else?" Mai asked, when everyone was gone and the room was empty again.

"Get more sleep," Azula replied. "There's only a few hours left until sunrise."

—

She confirmed with Long Feng--who was beginning to show signs of weariness himself at this point--that all the city's troops had been moved into the middle and upper rings before the sectioning began, and that they were staying in place and being relatively quiet, before she returned to her rooms.

Azula didn't bother undoing any of her clothes once she was inside. She simply pulled off her boots before setting them beside the bed, where she could easily slide her feet into them after swinging her legs over the side.

Azula had learned one thing from her mother, and that was to be ready to move in the middle of the night.

She had barely lain down on top of the covers when there was a knock at the door.

Azula shoved herself back up into a sitting position, clenching the fabric of the blanket beneath her hands; but then she paused.

She closed her eyes and exhaled once, slowly, before moving to pull her boots back on. "Come in."

The knock hadn't sounded like what the Dai Li agents had been doing, and it wasn't Mai's single rap, so she wasn't entirely surprised when Ty Lee opened the door. She was still in her Kiyoshi uniform, though the bottom of her right pants leg was charred. She was struggling to hold four heavy packages without dropping them.

"Here's your clothes," she said by way of greeting, nodding to the package on top. The usual bright tone of her voice was dampened by weariness. "The army isn't far behind me, and Minister Qin insisted on keeping the agent for questioning when I couldn't answer some of the stuff."

Azula frowned at that, but took the package. "What happened?" she asked, nodding at the burned silk.

"The agent did this weird dirt-skating thing, since it was faster than the ostrich-horse," Ty Lee answered, and then had to stifle a yawn. "Can I sleep now?"

"Where are the scouts?" Azula replied.

"I rode up with them. They're setting up around the front gate and the port."

"Who saw you entering?"

"One of the agents," she answered. "He brought me up here before heading back."

"Fine," Azula said. "Don't oversleep."

"'Kay."

As Ty Lee closed the door behind her, Azula glanced at the bed again before looking back down at the package.  
-

She moved the table closer to the bed and set the armor on it, and changed into the tunic and pants before going back to sleep. The parcel hadn't come with boots, so she set the Dai Li-issued ones back by the side of the bed.

—

Mai glared at the door out of habit when Ty Lee came in, and then turned back to sharpening one of her throwing knives.

"So tired," Ty Lee exhaled, dropping the last two packages on the table before slumping into the opposite chair. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"That noise is irritating," Mai replied, tilting her head towards the window.

Ty Lee leaned forward to look out it, but when she saw nothing unusual, she flopped down onto one of the lumpy packages and pillowed her head in her arms. "Huh?"

"They keep trying to bust down the new walls in the outer ring, and the others keep raising them again," Mai replied, pressing the pad of her thumb lightly against the knife's edge. "It was funny at first, but now it's just stupid."

"Pfffff!" Ty Lee replied, pushing herself back up. "I can sleep through _that_." She picked up one of the packages and tucked it under her arm as she stood. She started undoing the belt around her breastplate with her free hand. "Night."

"Whatever," Mai replied.  
-

After Ty Lee shut her door, Mai used the knife in her hand to cut the twine around the package. When she saw the clothing inside--a standard Fire Nation woman's uniform with a long-sleeved robe rather than armor--she tucked the knife away, then scooped the parcel up and headed to her room to dress as well.

—

Zuko had still been staring at the ceiling when his set of clothes and armor arrived. He changed immediately, and then sat on the edge of the bed and tried to figure out what about the clothing felt off.

It wasn't the weight of armor after all these months, or the slight difference in style or fabric, or even. . . .

. . . It was the heft missing on his right side, the dagger that should have been tucked away against his belt.

He hadn't brought the knife with him to the palace, of course. How would he have explained that to the king's guards? By claiming it was a part of the tea equipment?

He'd refused to even think it might be _necessary_, after so long. . . .

Zuko remained seated on the edge of the bed for several more minutes, kneading his fingers into the fabric of the covers and the mattress beneath and glaring at the stone floor under his feet. The soft tan stone looked absurd in contrast to the rich, dark red of his pants.

Finally, he stood and began unfastening his armor.

—

For roughly an hour after Azula's meeting with the leaders of the middle and upper rings, Zuko went missing from the palace. The brief absence of a single guard's uniform and set of dual swords, taken from the small store in the quarters set along the palace's walls, was unnoticed.

The news would not make it to Azula until late the coming afternoon, when she had returned from the Fire Nation's march and delegated enough authority to have time to spare again.

—

Despite everything, it was Ty Lee who was awake first before dawn; she could go for half a day on just a few hours' sleep.  
-

The sound of the door crashing open had Azula up and attacking on pure reflex. She shot the first burst of flame from her fist as she was sitting up, to hold whoever was there until she could shove off the bed and onto her feet.

In the doorway, Ty Lee bent backwards with a 'whup!' to dodge the fire, before catching herself with her hands and doing a back flip onto her feet again.

"Azula you have to see this!"

She gave her a disbelieving look.

"Come on! He finished them!"

Further down the hall, she could hear Mai coming up. "Ty Lee, _what_ is _wrong_ with you?"

"Outside! It's unbelievable!"

For all that she **was**, Ty Lee wasn't crazy. Azula shoved her boots on and stalked towards the doorway.

Ty Lee was already halfway down the hall, heading towards the east pavilion. Azula could only see her silhouette against the pillars, since the sun wasn't yet up--the sky had only barely begun to lighten. Mai was closer now, shoving her bangs away from her face and muttering under her breath. Further down the corridor, on the opposite side of the hall, Zuko had opened his door as well, looking tired and ready to yell at someone. He frowned when he saw the both of them; and then he followed a moment later, pulling his door shut behind him.

Out in the pavilion, Ty Lee had moved beyond the last row of pillars. She'd shoved her bangs back with both of her hands and was holding them there, staring up at the sky.

Azula stepped up behind her, still irritable from the adrenaline of her abrupt awakening. She glanced up in the direction that the other teenager was staring. "What **is** it, Ty--"

Then her eyes finally adjusted to the weak pre-dawn light, and Azula inhaled despite herself.

". . . Wow," Mai said at last.

The flying balloons were still mostly black against the paling blue sky, but dawn was creeping over the horizon, and in its orangey-yellow light the bright red would soon be clear.

The fabric of one of the balloons was ragged and patchy--it was likely the original that Qin had brought back with him. The second one was a successful recreation.

Azula felt that odd sensation in her chest, a tightening, swelling feeling, which she'd only had twice before: once on the night of her grandfather's funeral, as she'd stared out at the hundreds of people and thousands of flames gathered in the pavilion below where she'd stood at her father's side; and once on the day she first conducted lightning, in the aftermath of that even stranger emptiness that she'd executed the move in. . . .

Azula realized she was grinning.

"_How?_" Zuko asked, and he sounded even more awed than she felt.

Azula glanced over at where he was standing, on the opposite side of Mai, staring up at the balloons with his lips slightly parted.

"It was an experiment," she replied, glancing at the sky again as well and still grinning. "We've been working on it since winter. And now. . . ."

Azula looked at the three of them: Ty Lee, smiling so wide that Azula wouldn't have been surprised if she started clapping her hands in glee; Mai, who still looked impressed; and Zuko, who couldn't tear his gaze away from the sky.

"_Now_," Azula continued, tasting the words as she spoke, "we have the Earth Kingdom, we have the air, and the nights are growing shorter. . . ."

She glanced at the balloons again. The sky was growing lighter, and the Fire Nation's symbol was nearly distinct from the red. When she tilted her head down and looked past the city's outermost wall, she could make out the shape of troops arranged in ranks.

"Now nothing can stop us."

Azula closed her eyes long enough to gain control over her smile, and then turned sharply on her heel. All the previous irritation, the weariness of the last two days and nights, washed away in her reinforced confidence and satisfaction.

"Come on," she said as she began to move out of the pavilion and back into the hallway. "The occupation march and the ceremonies are going to take most of the day, so we don't have much time to eat. Zuko, you and I are going down to the camp. Mai, Ty Lee, you're holding things here until we reach the middle ring--then you'll join us."

They fell in behind her with various words and sounds of agreement. Azula looked over her shoulder to see Zuko sparing one last glance at the sky, the corners of his mouth curling up in a genuine smile and his hands clenched tight at his sides.

He looked back down once the pillars blocked the view, and caught her watching him. Azula smiled faintly before facing forward again.  
-

As dawn broke and the sky continued to lighten, the city below fell silent. 


End file.
